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BUTTON. V No. 327,442. Patented Sept. 29, 1885.

/% wes UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEOPHI-LUS R. HYDE, JR, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,442, dated September 29, 1885.

Application filed February 16,1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEOPHILUS R. HYDE, J r., of WVaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new Improvement in Buttons; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a side view of the button complete; Fig. 2, a longitudinal central section showing the cap applied to a non-metallic button having a central metal socket for the attachment of the cap; Fig. 3, the cap as attached to a non-metallic button having a metal eye attached to the back of the button; Fig. 4, the cap applied to a non-metallic button pierced for the attachment of the garment; Fig. 5, a top View of the button Fig. 4. Fig. 6 shows the cap as applied to a metal back provided with an eye by which to secure it to the garment.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of buttons in which the front or face is made removable, so that the same button may, as occasion requires, present. either of the two distinct faces-as, for illustration, a civic and a military button.

In the more general construction of this class of buttons the body is made in the form of a common button and attached to the garment. The covering is made from metal, and secured to the body of the button by a screwthread on the periphery of the body or principal button, and an internal thread in the cap; but as the buttons, such as are required for civilians dress, are very generally made from horn, similar material, or composition of some character, the thread on the periphery of the button is easily stripped, and unless the greatest care is exercised in applying the cap the threads will be improperly engaged, and consequently the softer material of the thread onthe periphery will be stripped or destroyed. This difficulty of engaging the thread arises from the fact of its being so large in diameter that positive engagement of the two threads is not easily determined, and it is only in the hands of skillful or experienced persons that such engagement is insured.

Another difficulty attending this construction of button is the fact that when the cap is removed the thread on the edge of the button is exposed to wear, which it is not able to withstand, and the thread is soon destroyed by the wear, so that this class of buttons are little used as a practical changeable button for garments. In other cases spring or latch-like attachments have been arranged to engage the two; but these are complicated and liable to derangement.

The object of my invention is the construction of the cap and body of the button so that it may be securely attached and obviate the difficulties before mentioned, and also adapt the cap to buttons of various characters; and it consists in providing the cap with a concentric stud upon its inside, screw-threaded, and the body of the button correspondingly tapped at its center to receive the stud, as more fully hereinafter described.

A represents a composition button. It is best made with a metal socket, 'a, at the center, fixed in the body of the button, the socket open outward, and internally screw-threaded, the bottom of the socket pierced with holes I), by which the button maybe secured to the garment by stitches, the thread lying in the bottom of the socket; B, the cap, made from metal, such as usually employed for gilt buttons, and shaped so as to substantially cover the principal button or body A. The cap is constructed or provided at its center and upon its inside with a stud, d, which projects therefrom in an axial line, and is of a length to extend into the socket. It is screw-threaded corresponding to the socket, and so that in applying the cap the screw-stud enters the socket until the cap comes to a hearing, as seen in Fig. 2. When the metal cap is not required, it is removed .by simply unscrewing it from the body, thus leaving the body of the button on the garment, and which presents the appearance of a common composition or like button.

Many non-metallic buttons are provided with metal eyes, as seen in Fig. 3. The eyes are applied by constructing the eye with a disk, 6, its edges of dovetail shape, the body of the button formed with a corresponding dovetail-shaped cavity in the back of the button at its center, the disk introduced in concavo-convex shape, then flattened in the cavity, so as to expand its edge into engagement with the dovetail edge of the cavitya common and well-known construction. In this class of buttons a central hole, f, is formed in the button, and tapped corresponding to the stud on the cap. This hole in the center of the button does not detract from the appearance of the button, but, on the contrary, may be made a part of the ornamentation on the surface of the button.

A common pierced button, such as seen in Fig. 4, for the application of the cap, is pierced with a central hole, h, which is threaded cor-.

responding to the stud on the cap, and so that the cap may be applied thereto in like manner. The central piercing is also seen in Fig. 5.

It is frequently desirable to clean a gilt button, which cannot be done without soiling the garment around the button. The cap may be made removable from the body of the button in like manner as hereinbefore described, and as seen in Fig. 6, the body A of the button being a metal back made separate from the cap, with a central hole, z, tapped corresponding to the stud on the cap, and so that the cap will set on over the button, it being applied in the same manner as described for attachment in the foregoing illustrations, so that when it is desired to clean the button the cap may be removed by simply unscrewing it, or a new cap may be applied without detaching the button from the garment. By employing the stud d of so small diameter the screwthread is much more readily engaged than it can be when the thread is on the periphery of n the button, and there is very much less liability to strip the thread in applying the cap, and the wear which necessarily comes on the thread on the periphery of the button is entirely avoided.

From the foregoing it will be understood that I do not claim, broadly, a button having a cap detachably applied thereto, and whereby the button may be constructed to present either a metal or a composition surface, as occasion may require; but

What I do claim is '1. A button the body A of which is coir structed with a screw-threaded hole at its center, combined with a metal cap adapted to be set upon and cover the said body, the cap con structed with a central concentric stud upon its inside, threaded corresponding to the screwthreaded hole in the center of the body, substantially as described.

2. A button the body A of which is of a non-metallic material, constructed .with a metal socket, a, at its center, screw-threaded upon its inside, the bottom of the socket constructed for attaching the button, combined with a metal cap adapted to be set upon and cover the said button, the said cap constructed with a central concentric stud upon its inside, threaded corresponding to the socket in the button, substantially as described.

THEOPHILUS R. HYDE, JR.

Witnesses:

M. L. SPERRY, O. M. DE Mom. 

